Bills To Regulate California Groundwater Use Opposed By Farmers

(Reuters) - A package of bills aimed at regulating
drought-parched California's stressed groundwater supplies has
come under fire from agricultural interests, injecting doubt into
the measures' fates in the waning days of the state's legislative
session this week.

The bills, which would allow the state to take over management of
underground aquifers and water accessed via wells, tighten
oversight of water at a time when groundwater levels are
shrinking in the third year of a catastrophic drought.

“If we don’t get started on fixing this problem we are going to
find ourselves in a very dire situation, especially if drought
persists,” said Andrew Fahlund, deputy director of the California
Water Foundation, which supports the two bills in the package.

Farmers in California's agricultural breadbasket rely on water
from wells to irrigate their crops when the state cuts back on
supplies from streams and the fragile San Joaquin-Sacramento
River Delta.

But recent studies have shown groundwater levels receding
throughout the Southwest, prompting concern among
environmentalists and others that the use needs to be better
regulated.

About a million people statewide rely on private wells for
drinking water, many of which have gone dry as groundwater levels
have receded.

Critics say the proposed legislation would impose overly rigid
guidelines on farmers and wouldn’t address the different
geographic needs of water users. Opponents also say the
legislation was hastily written.

“This could be the largest piece of water legislation regarding
water rights that people in legislature will vote on in their
career,” said Justin Oldfield, lobbyist for the California
Cattlemen’s Association. “Should they really make the decision in
such a short time period?”

Democratic state Senator Fran Pavley, who authored one of the
bills, said she collaborated with farmers to draft the measure,
and that some, including Community Alliance with Family Farmers,
had signed on to support it.

“The legislation was crafted with extensive input from
stakeholders, including water agencies, farmers, businesses,
local governments, environmental organizations and individual
community members," Pavley said in an email.

The legislature has until Aug. 31, the last day of this year's
session, to pass the bills or let them die.

(Reporting by Joaquin Palomino in San Francisco; Editing by
Sharon Bernstein and Leslie Adler)

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